An Abridgment of the Public Statutes in Force... Use from Magna Charta

1739. London, 1739. 2 vols.. London, 1739. 2 vols. The Eighteenth-Century Successor to Rastell's Statutes Cay, John [1700-1757]. An Abridgment of the Publick Statutes in Force and Use from Magna Charta, In the Ninth Year of King Henry III. To the Eleventh Year of His Present Majesty King George II. Inclusive. London: Printed by His Majesty's Printer, 1739. Two volumes. [1464] pp. Folio (13" x 8"). Contemporary calf, blind rules to boards, blind fillets along joints, raised bands and lettering pieces to spines, gilt tooling to board edges. Light rubbing and scuffing to boards, heavier rubbing to extremities with wear to spine ends and corners, boards beginning to separate but secure, later library bookplate (of Brattleboro Public Library) and book label, "James H. Phelps, West Townsend, VT," to front pastedowns. Moderate toning to interiors, faint dampspotting in places, faint staining to margins of a few leaves in Volume I, offsetting to margins of endleaves, brief early annotations to rear pastedowns, "Charles Phelps's Book" to heads of title pages. $350. * First edition. "The need for an abridgment of the statutes more adequate than anything that had appeared since the last addition of Rastell's Collection probably gave rise to this compilation... Cay's Abridgment maintained its popularity throughout the [18th] century..." (Cowley). Later editions appeared in 1758, 1762 and 1766. The Phelps's were a notable family in the area around Marlboro and Brattleboro, Vermont. James H. Phelps [1817-1893], a former owner of our copy, was a lawyer, county judge and Vermont state representative and senator. This book may have belonged to his father Charles Phelps [1781-1854], a lawyer, probate judge and member of the Vermont Council, or his great-uncle Charles Phelps [1743-1814], a lawyer and an active partisan in the disputes over the New Hampshire Grants and Vermont's boundaries. Bisbee and Wiese, Charles Phelps (1717-1789) Papers, 1764-1928 (Bulk: 1764-1889) (accessed online). Cowley, A Bibliography of Abridgments, Digests, Dictionaries and Indexes of English Law to the Year 1800 xxxviii, 231. English Short-Title Catalogue T150447.